The Gods of Astrophikus

   Astrophikus has literally thousands of gods, religions and belief systems in place. That said, there are a handful of gods that are worshipped by everyone, and universally accepted as the “principle deities” of the world in question:

Etah, the Golden Voyager

Lawful Good

   Etah is the god of knowledge and civilization, and a revered patron amongst most Astrophikans. He is believed to have been the one who led them on their voyage in prehistory to Aastrophikus and salvation. His teachings espouse that all mortals can ultimately attain godhood through the embrace of divine virtues.

Draeggaros the Star God

True Neutral

   Draeggaros is the Star God, and his worship began early on with the deceipherment of the greta obelisks that speak of his venerable heritage as the prison keeper of Sulziddaran. He is a mysterious and sometimes malevolent deity, who care nothing for forces of good and evil, but only balance. The communion with his spirit is only possible through living sacrifice. His greatest temples are found in Vulmeadea.

Sulziddaran the Imprisoned

Chaotic evil

   This primal, malevolent deity is said to have been one of many spawned by the elemental Chaos itself, sent to destroy reality and remake the world in an image more pleasing to the formless domain of chaos. Sulziddaran is a potent and ever-present force on Astrophikus, dwelling in slumbering imprisonment at the heart of the world, manipulating susceptible minds in to erratic and dangerous behavior, as it seeks eternally a means of escape.

Kothe

Lawful Neutral

   Kothe is a revered ancient god-spirit and patron lord of the eladrin of Astrophikus. Kothe is believed to have been a neverable eladrin who achieved immortal transcendence, and has long since been revered as the patron overseer of the race.

   Kothe’s edicts are one of superiority over all, and the dedication of the spirit to the evolution of the mind and soul. Much of the eladrin culture has embraced this philosophy, and used a mixture of the primarl Feywild’s potence and alchemical means to attain higher states of being as they seek to evolve their spirits in to something greater.

Susurus

Chaotic Neutral

   The nature of Susurus is a mystery, a great watery beast in the southern waters which some claim can be seen physically. It is believed to react to worship, and to allow safe passage for those who are sufficiently reverent, while sending storms and beasts to destoy those who do not. This god is primarily revered by the barbarian cultures of the coast who are practiced seafarers.

Phonatas

Chaotic Good

   The benign goddess of love and beauty is revered among the elves, who adopter her worship centuries ago from interaction with the elves of Lingusia. Phonatas is a deity who embodies lust, love, strength and many other raw emotions that are considered deeply empowering by the primal elves of Astrophikus.

 

Elisin

Lawful good

   Elisin is the goddess of peace and culture, and also imported for worship by the Astrophikan elves. Elisin is regarded as the calm counterpoint to Phonatas’s wild lusts, and the wizards and scholars of the elves pay homage to her.

Ningada

Neutral Good

   The god Ningada is an ancient deity, worshipped by the ancient elves of Astrophikus since time immemorial. He is believed to be an angelic seraph who ascended to godhood after the destruction of his ancient city upon the moon, and some tales say he brought about the birth of elvenkind from his own blood.

Metatron

Lawful Good

   The mysterious Metatron is worshipped by very few, but his existence is rarely debated. It is believed that if you quest deeply enough beneath the ruins of the moon Metaros you can find him, meditating, awaiting the time when he must rise forth to stem the tide of chaos once more. His followers are usually reverent inquisitors and paladins dedicated to thwarting chaos by any means necessary.

Hargameth

Neutral Evil

   The god of blood and thunder, a vicious primeval brute who relishes in warfare is strongly regarded by the northern barbarians of Nordravar, and though his worship has all but gone extinct in Lingusia, he is strong here on Astrophikus. Though many on Lingusia regarded him as a deity of order, he is widely regarded as a beast of both powers, with elements of order and chaos permeating his being. The Nordravari priests of Hargameth are potent soldiers in battle, and many barbarians swear by him.

Zingar

Chaotic Good

   The lord of the hunt is a strong deity and his worship has been with the natives of Astrophikus since the stone age. Zingar represents the spirit of the hunt, the ultimate power of nature and the interaction between man and his environment. Cults of rangers and barbarians are dedicated to him throughout the wilderlands.

Wolfon

True Neutral

   Wolfon has a strong following among the many beastmen of Astrophikus, from the gnolls and orcs to the minotaurs and beyond. The Shadow Wolf is said to roam the Shadowfell, and sacrifices of sufficient greatnes by his followers will call upon his might.

Staddak’Zuthul

Chaotic Evil

   The vile Staddak’Zuthul is said to be an ascended immortal, who achieved power stolen from the raw Chaos itself. His cults are numerous and surprisingly work at odds with the chaos cults, for Staddak’Zuthul does not want the slumbering darkness at the heart of Astrophikus to awaken, but instead for his own cult to subjugate and ultimately gain control over the many civilizations of the world in his own name. Rumors abound that the wizards and necromancers who follow this god work hard to make him the chief deity of the realm, and that he seeks to siphon away all of the chaos energies of the trapped Sulziddaran for his own. Staddak’Zuthul is said to d well in a powerful fortress on the plane of shadow.

The Eleven Divine Spirits

Various alignments

   The eleven immortals of Shinjiki Koru are said to have been elder gods from the old world, a faith so ancient and ingrained within the people of this land that they have always been with them. Indeed, Etah himself is considered one, the twelfth member of the Divine Hierarchy.

Tyrnada

Lawful good

   The benevolent Tyrnada is a beneficient deity who was imported from a remote world some thirteen hundred years ago, and over time her following spread to the four corners of the world. Her clerics are dedicated teachers and healers, and her message is one of peace and tolerance. Though her followers are often tortured and killed in regions where chaos gods are worshipped, she is nonetheless still popular, even in secret.

   The miraculous cures and blessings of Tyrnada’s priesthood are at least partially responsible for her popularity. The charitable priests of her faith will free do all they can to mend wounds, heal the sick and cure the ill in whatever way they can, and many are blessed with divine magic to aid them.

Karzak’Hadon

Neutral Good

   Karzak’Hadon is one of several ancient deities that existed on Astrophikus before the immigration times, and was worshipped amongst the ancient stone age cultures. He is a deity of primal earth and air, and said by some to be the entity in charge of insuring that the great prison of the world is never weathered such that it could be broken. He has a small but dedicated following, consisting of militant templars who serve his cause by destroying demonic influences that could corrupt the prison of Sulziddaran.

Atrophikus - Gazetteer of the Lesser Kingdoms

Nordravar

“The Barbarian Kingdoms”

Patron God: various, especially Hargameth, Wolfon and Zingar

Ruler: Various, though the warlord Drogas is most prominent right now

Capitol: no single capitol, but the main trade port is Tholios

Population: a good mix of  human, half orc, werefolk, dragonkin, elf, dwarf, halfling, gnome and orcs.

Shinjiki Koru

“The Jewel of Astrophikus”

Patron God: The Eleven Divine Spirits

Ruler: The Shogun Mishigi Arayu

Capitol: Khozakan

Population: mostly human and dragonkin, with some dissident eladrin, elves, dwarves, werefolk, lesser giants, goblins, and samsarans

   The empire of Shinjiki Kuru is as ancient as all the other civilizations founded by ancient immigrants, but has long held to a different culture and focus, which grew increasingly isolated and aggressive over time. Shinjiki Koru was last among the great empires to succumb to the lure of orichalcum, and only adopted planar and etheric trade as a means of sustenance within the last thousand years.

   Shinjiki Koru is ruled by a shogun under whom numerous samurai clans serve, although they engage in constant ritual warfare with one another and their barbarian neighbors.

Toskolian Steppes

Patron God: Phonatas, Elisin and others

Ruler: no single ruler

Capitol: no capitol; the region is dominated by nomadic tribesmen

Population: the region is dominated by human, elvish and giantkin nomads

   This vast region of grassy windswept steppelands is dominated by nomadic tribes of elves, humans and others, and no permanent settlements exist, though there are several regions of prominence where the clans migrate yearly for trade and commerce. The nomads of this land have stood strong against the efforts of the Vulmeadean empire to lean on them for mining labor, and fight the empire at every chance they get. They are also found frequently warring with the city-states of Hed’Zimmet to the north, which also delights in using the nomads for slave labor.

Hed’Zimmet

Patron God: Staddak’Zuthul and his horde of gold-children

Ruler: numerous lesser rulers throughout the city-states of the land

Capitol: the largest city-state is Kadak’Hinil

Population: although humans are dominant, significant portions of the population include dragonkin, werefolk, half orcs, elves, and ogres.

   Hed’Zimmet is a collection of city-states united by their worship of the dark god Staddak’Zuthul. Some claim that Staddak’Zuthul was not a true god, but one of the Immortals of Ashetnur who was lured away thousands of years ago to begin his own cult, after suffering the temptation of Sulziddaran’s dark dreams and promises of power.

   The Hed’Zimmeti are very territorial, and when they are not warring amonst themselves or rival clans and tribes in the greater expanse of the Jungle of Lost Souls, they are seeking slaves from the Toskolian nomads or even venturing east to raid mining towns from Vumeadea to steal the precious orichalcum. Several of the Hed’Zimmet cities are able to field their own spelljammers in battle, and have begun to explore the possibilities of trade, commerce and perhaps even war in the planes and etheric regions.

   The region north of the Hed’Zimmet territories is dominated largely by uncivilized lesser kingdoms, barbarian tribes and hidden mysteries. It is said that one of the greatest ancient empires, lost to memory but indicative of an older prehuman race that existed before the immigrants arrived ten thousand years ago can be found in this region. The ancients are called the Karkosans, and little is known of them, save that their mysterious ruins sometimes yield fabulous ancient magic.

 

Hydakenos

Patron God: Susurus, the Sea God

Ruler: the high king Drymarkion

Capitol: Mylkarianos

Population: mostly human with small local populations of demi-humans

   Hydakenos is a southern coastal empire of local barbarian tribes who have been hammered in to a strong kingdom by a line of sophisticated leaders. They have united the southern coast of the Gulf of Oblivion in to a united land for more than a century now.

The Darklands and Inatras

Patron God: chaos gods

Ruler: none; Drow ruled by the Grey Queen, Siddratha

Capitol: none, although the free port of Daggerspell sometimes serves as a center of commerce; Drow capitol is Ulviridien

Population: humans, drow, orcs and other monstrous chaos beings

   This region is unique in its lack of dominance, at least partially due to the fact that the barbarian tribes in the region are devoted to the chaos gods, and practice profane and charnel ways. Beneath the surface of the Darklands in the vaste region known as the Subterrene Realms rests the hub of the drow empire, called Inatras.

   The main local center of trade and commerce is the free port of Daggerspell, where all sorts of scum and villainy thrive. Much of the illegal planar and etheric trade will channel through Daggerspell, and many who wish to travel to the more malevolent domains of the Elemental Chaos can find passages to such domains through this city.

Astrophikus - Ashetnur and Tanatsanu

Ashetnur

“The Empire of Immortals”

Patron God: Etah, the Golden Traveller

Emperor: Hath Hamanid the Divine

Capitol: Khoshet

Population: human, tiefling and genasai in equal numbers, with a smaller percentage of lizard men, devas, minotaurs, gnolls, elves and dragonborn.

   Ashetnur is ancient, even more so than Vulmeadea, and its historians claim the oldest civilizations of Ashetnur go back 5,000 years. The immortal god-kings and queens of this empire are given to a sacred magical elixir that sustains their life for centuries, or even longer, until at last their mortal husk can no longer sustain their souls and they ascend to the Astral Sea, where they become gods. The local religion worships Etah as the greatest of these spirits, and that the tradition of ascencion to immortality was taught to the kings of Ashetnur by the Golden Traveller.

   Ashetnur is located in a vast desert, a cold and dry location of the world with only a few life-sustaining rivers and large lakes. As such, its people are hardy and sometimes fatalistic, with a strong caste system in place. Despite this, Ashetnur is a strong center of history and scholarship, with vast libraries dedicated to the study and recording of local and planar history.

   Ahsetnur is also weak in orichalcum. Most of its trade comes from the planar gates, which are easier to maintain over time, unlike spelljammers, which eventually exhaust the magic potential of the orichalcum. Because of this, Ashetnur has many good available found normally on the planes, and a population of greater diversity, including a large number of tieflings, genasai and even devas.

Tanantsanu

“The Fey Kingdom”

Patron God: Kothe

Emperor: Yndradda the Eternal

Capitol: Ethylios

Population: eladrin high elves only, with some subjugated races

   The Eladrin (high elves) of Astrophikus have dwelt on this world since before the arrival of the Astrophikan immigrants, and they are an ancient kingdom steeped in mysterious traditions, ancient cults and their strong tether to the Feywild. Few Eladrin cities seem terribly impressive on Astrophikus, until you enter and discover their dual existence in both this reality and that of the Feywild.

   The eladrin as a race are haughty and exhibit barely restrained contempt for most lesser races, including their close elvish kin. They despise the drow, and seek to eradicate these chaos worshipper whenever possible. Eladrin, though holding only a nominal territory in the north, are considered a potent force due to their much larger presence in the feywild.

   Tanantsanu has a strong alliance with Vulmeadea, but cool relations with Ashetnur. They are perpetually at war with the barbarian kingdoms of Nordavar, and the city state of Hanacal, which is deep in the mountainous territory they consider their own. The corrupted city fo Hanacal was founded centuries ago by a cult of followers to the mad prophet Koldragas, who still lives today, and claims to channel the dreaming voice of Sulziddaran himself. Indeed, the entire city is populated by disparate followers from all over the world, who have been seduced by the promise of power chaos offers.

Astrophikus - Vulmedea, Empire of a Thousand Stars

Vulmedea, Empire of a Thousand Stars

   The following provides a concise summary of the major forces on Astrophikus:

Vulmeadea

“Empire of a Thousand Stars”

Patron God: Draeggaron

Emperor: Eskaton VIII

Capitol: Gyldarion

Population: human dominant, with a healthy mix of demihumans, especially tieflings, eladrin, halflings, gnomes, goliaths, and dwarves

   The Vulmeadean Empire is the largest in terms of political, military and mercantile power on Astrophikus, and it is over four thousand years old according to its own historians. Centered around the vast Inner Vulmeadean Sea, the empire is represented by three great cities: Gyldarion (capitol of the empire), Hedareden, and Nythtilien. Dozens of smaller rural townships and numerous mining towns dot the region. Vulmeadea has several satellite baronies in the wilderness, centered around mining activities as well.

   Vulmeadea’s ancient history includes a conflict about three thousand years ago with dragonkind. As the tales goes, the dragon lords migrated through space to Astrophikus during this period, and waged war against the early empire to attempt its subjugation. The empire drove the dragons back, and the ancestors of those dragons who settled upon the world now dwell in the greater wilderness, often ruling over barbarian tribes that have sworn fealty to them.

   During this war, many humans were swayed to the cause and worship of the dragons. Interbreeding with the dragons led to the creation of the Dragonborn race. About three centuries ago, dragonborn descendants attempted a coup against the empire once again, though they failed. Today, dragonborn are a persecuted underclass in the empire, and most choose to dwell in their own fortress enclaves in the wilderlands. Once especially prominent dragonborn house is the former royal house of Zyma, which still seeks to actively overthrow the empire and institute the rule of dragonkind. It is unknown which dragons are behind this movement.

   Vulmeadea has nearly as many planar portals as it does spelljammers, although the bulk of its trade comes through the passage of the magical ships. The planar portals allow passage to several demiplanes and dimensional realms throughout the planes, and as a result of this connection, a large population of planar beings can be found engaging in trade and commerce in the fantastic cities of the empire.

   The largest temples to the Star God exist in Vulmeadea, but as the hub of so many cultures across many worlds, there is a strong embrace of openness to all religions. Every major city has a Temple District, for example, in which dozens or even hundred of temples and cults prosper. Gods from the thousand stars can all be found worshipped here, and only those gods which would exchew the ultimate faith of Draeggaros are banned or considered heretical.

The Colonization of Astrophikus

The Colonization of Astrophikus

   Astrophikus was colonized by the first humanoids about ten thousand years ago. To be fair, there were many humans and demihumans already dwelling on Astrophikus at that time, though they were dwelling in a state of barbarism and had no technology and culture to speak of.

   The first civilized colonists to arrive on Astrophikus speak of half-forgotten myths of a great exodus, and a lost world from which they had fled after a cataclysm that left their original home a devastated ruin. The colonists followed the will of their fabled god, the Golden Traveller Etah. Even today Etah is strongly worshipped, and is the patron god of the empire of  Ashetnur.

   The Astrophikans all agree that their world was once in the sky, a sister to Astrophikus, but it was destroyed. There is some perceived truth to this; the great Haze, a vast swath of asteroids midway between Lingusia and Astrophikus is claimed by many to have been the origin world of the first colonists. A fairly unpopular movement amongst some well-read activists claims that the ancient texts support the idea that the home world of all Astrophikans was destroyed by ancient magic, and that some suggest it, too, was a prison constructed to contain one of the ancient chaos gods, one which escaped. Stories of the ancient entity Dalroth from Lingusia’s pantheon have pointed to this dark god as the one which burst forth from the mantle of their lost world, creating the Haze, though others more familiar with the sacred texts of Lingusia (The Idean Codexes) point out that Dalroth existed long before the time of destruction, and no references are ever made to his imprisonment.

   In any case, it was ten thousand years ago, upon primitive orichalcum-driven spelljammers that the first Astrophikans arrived on their new world. They found a world inhabited by primitives, for whom even fire was often a new phenomenon, and tool use was no more complex than stone and reed. These early travelers brought with them a fraction of the glorious history, knowledge and magical power of their lost culture, but it was enough to make themselves kings among the natives.

   The sum total of the last ten thousand years of history can be described as one of perpetual conflict and evolution. The first colonists secluded themselves for a very long period from the natives, though such exclusion eventually crumbled in some cases. Over time, the Astrophikans learned that their new home was also a great source of orichalcum, although it had apparently become a lost or forbidden art for a time, for it was many thousands of years before the early empires developed enough sophistication to once again mine for the mystical ore and at last turn to the production of the stellar and planar spelljammers for trade and commerce with other worlds and planes.

   In ten millennia wars have been fought, nations have risen and fallen with typical speed, and the Astrophikans slowly recovered their lost knowledge of ancient sorcery. The natives grew and learned, sometimes gifted with knowledge by the foreign powers, other times subjugated. The mysteries of Astrophikus’s curious position in the solar system and the importance of the many planetary alignments became the province of the priests of the Star God, who grew up rapidly in their beliefs, taken from the mysterious sacred obelisks, the largets of which is at the center of the Vulmeadean capitol, Gyldarion. These obelisks, of which a dozen have been found around the world, each tell of the tales of the Star God Draeggaron, and the imprisoned entity Sulziddaran within the heart of the world. So it was that the Temples of the Star God spread across the world.

   It was about three thousand years ago that the civilizations of Astrophikus recovered all their lost knowledge of spelljamming, and began to develop new ships in earnest. Over time, this changed the landscape of the world from one of normally developing civilizations, spreading outward and developing local resources to support large rural populations around feudal townships and cities in to one of a strangely different nature. Today, Astrophikus is dominated by vast, ancient ruin-filled tracts of land, with immense city hubs from which most trade and commerce comes from the plains. The merchant princes of the various empires are the true force behind each city, for they are the lifeblood. Rural townships spread out, though rarely for more than a hundred miles, providing some modest resources locally, but the enriched citizens of the empire are given to a culture of art, religion, philosophy and culture, as well as a talent for magic rarely seen in most other realms. The merchant princes are extraordinarily proficient at their trade, buying and selling commodities off world to amass vast wealth, and bringing in the precious goods necessary for the opulent lifestyles of each city of the various Astrophikan empires.

   Outside of the “hub” of each city, beyond the rural farmlands, is a no-man’s land of the barbarian kingdoms, monster-ridden realms and isolated mining communities where vast complexes dedicated to the extraction of orichalcum from the depths of the earth can be found. Only the desperate and criminal tend to become miners, for life is short in this profession. Nonetheless, the seemingly endless supply of orichalcum is vital to the survival of the Astrophikan way, for without it as the only local resource of true worth, the empires would lack the vital material necessary to sustain the hulls of spelljamming vessels. Without orichalcum the empires would collapse and anarchy would reign.  

   There are several strong empires in Astrophikus today: Vulmeadea, Tanantsanu, and Ashetnur are three noted empires on the super-continent. Each empire has its own ancient history, and maintains careful military forces to prevent neighbors and barbarian kingdoms from interfering with their city hubs.

Astrophikus - Stellar Cartography

The Stellar Cartography of Chaos Space around Astrophikus

   Because of the elaborate and advanced use of flying ships called Spelljammers, Astrophikus is a rare interplanetary civilization. The various kingdoms and empires of the world are all reliant on this interplanetary and planar travel, creating an unusual local enconomy in which the planet’s greatest empires depend largely on imports and exports for their continued subsistence.

   Spelljamming vessels are designed to travel through the planar realms, and from the planar realms they can reach other distant points of existence in the material realm. Spelljammers are capable of traversing the Ether Sea, the arcane term for the depths of space, a vast void with no air and an imcredible chill. Spelljammers are built out of the material typical of sailing ships, but their hulls are plated with the rare bronze-like metal called orichalcum, which acts as a super-conducting material for magical force, allowing a spell caster to imbue the metal with flight and other properties enchanted in to the hull. For those vessels which traverse the ether, these enchantments include gravity and an air envelope, as well as protection from the coldness of space.

   In the realm of chaos space there are several other worlds that are regularly traded with, including Hyskortius, called the “Winking Eye” by some, a curious water world with no land, as well as the vast inner world of Lingusia, a great disc-like construction with twenty times the land mass of Astrophikus. Lingusia is known to be a prison as well, much like Astrophikus, though it harbors twelve ancient entities called the Krakens. Lingusia, unlike Astrophikus, has no orichalcum of its own, and its civlizations lack space-faring capability. Nonetheless the Astrophikans allow for travel to and from this immense world (around which the sun and Astrophikus itself revolve) for trade of more conventional goods, although they are usually limited to those cities which are open to the presence of flying magical vessels from strange lands (Octzel and Naminthia are most well known for their appreciation of ether merchants.)

   Because Astrophikus and the sun both revolve around the great disk world of Lingusia, this creates some unusual astronomical alignments and conjunctions. All of these phenomona are given special mystical properties around which great ceremonies are held. When Lingusia, the Sun, and the moon Metaros reach a conjunction, for example, that is considered a time of great prosperity and all warfare must cease for one year, during which even criminals are excused of their crimes by the Vulmeadean Empire, for example.

Astrophikus: Principia Geographica Mythologica

One of the occasionally visited realms that manifested during one of my Spelljammer campaigns in the early nineties, Astrophikus likes to keep popping up in current campaigns ever since, a strange fantasy realm which is inextricably tied to the weird realm of fantasy wildspace. Astrophikus has appeared in 2nd, 3rd, 4th edition and pathfinder campaigns. It may make an appearance again soon in my planned 5E playtest. I'll be throwing some data on this into the blog in the coming weeks for fun...

Astrophikus: Principia Geographica Mythologica

"The Jewel of Chaos"

   Astrophikus is a small world, perhaps half the size of the Earth. It exists in a region dubbed by Spelljamming explorers as “chaos space,” a solar system where it is said that the power of the Primordial Chaos God ruptured the fabric of space-time, as it attempted to reclaim the vastness of the material plane in to its crawling chaos. It has often been dubbed "The Jewel of Chaos" for the small but lush world is regarded as a paradise by those who have traversed the empty realms of the ether and the phlogiston for far too long.

   Astrophikus operates like a fairly dense but otherwise normal world. It is spherical, and has normal gravity, despite its smaller size. The world has modest oceans, one at each polar cap, and several large lakes and a single inland sea, though less than 40% of the world’s surface is covered in water. The world has temperate extremes across the globe, with strong, humid equatorial regions rife with growth, leading out to vast cold deserts in the inland regions furthest from or most protected by the coastal regions. At the poles much of the water is locked in ice caps; likewise, many of the largest mountains stretch out in to the thinnest regions of atmosphere, where ancient glaciers remain forever locked in ice.

   Astrophikus has a thick crust and deep mantle, beneath which the mythology of the land claims lies one of the more terrifying progeny of chaos, the destroyer god Sulziddaran. Indeed, most of the scholars of Astrophikus assert that this world is, in fact a vast prison designed to contain the dreaded god, forced in to perpetual slumber by his prison-keeper, the baleful elder god Draeggaron, usually called the Star God. Astrophikus is notorious for its terrifying earthquakes and volcanic events, and these are usually attributed to the restless movements of the slumbering Sulziddaran.

   Astrophikus has two small, curiously shaped moons. The mythology of the moons is complex, a strange tale of dark power, in which the moons were once a single whole. Each moon contains the ruins of a vast city that was once said to be a single great metropolis from which Dreaggaros and his minions held watch over their charge, the entombed chaos god below.

   As the story goes, Draeggaros’s lesser seraph minions grew complacent, and in time they lost sight of their overall purpose, for Draeggaros himself had passed on the the Astral Sea and moved in to the outer realms of thought, only occasionally being called back to his realm through great sacrifice or need. This complacency led to corruption from within, and a dark cult of infernal beliefs insinuated itself within the city of the seraphs.

   Over a period of eons the cult expanded and turned in to a terrible conflict that wracked the Great City in fire and destruction. In the end, the battle was won when the dreadful lord of battle, Metatron, sundered the city in twain, thus creating the two moons. The survivors of the cataclysm, desperate for redemption, fled to the planar realms in search of their god, for Draeggaros, disgusted with their fall from grace, had chosen to forsake them all.

   Thousands of years later, the myths of the two moons are known to all. The dark moon, called Ternikos, is a vast graveyard of undead and infernal devils. The powerful and evil entity called Halistrak the Lich Lord is the ruler of this realm, or at least portends to be. The other moon is called Metaros, and its ruins are filled with weird and ancient mysteries, mad angels and other strangeness. Rumors suggest that somewhere deep in the heart of this moon Metatron still dwells, where he was instructed to continue vigilant watch over the prison world below.

   Current belief on Astrophikus suggests that the two moons, which can fall in to alignment once every century, will bring terrible doom, earthquakes and bad luck during this period if a valued living sacrifice is not offered to the god Draeggaros, to call him back from the Outer Realms to impose his will upon the world and set things aright.Though it has been many thousands of years since at least one of the major cities of Astrophikus failed to offer sacrifice, the stories do tell of a terrible cataclysm two thousand years ago, in which the planet suffered a year of quakes, floods, plague and famine the likes of which none could imagine. As such, all of the kingdoms of the world today invoke regular sacrifices to call upon the protection of Draeggaros during lunar alignments.